4/2/2022»»Saturday
Atlantis Bahamas Poker Tournament 2018
4/2/2022
After the anticipation the first ever PokerStars Championship got under way at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. A familiar venue for past PCA regulars it was now under new branding, and greeting players by their hundreds looking to write their name into poker history. By the end of nine days of competition, several players had done just that. Login support emails will be answered between the hours of 8 am – 5 pm, Monday through Friday. Latest Casino and Gambling News, Poker Tournaments, Bahamas, Online Poker, Poker The largest online poker room available today is preparing to launch a new exclusive live tournament for players to enjoy beginning in 2019.
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The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is no more.
After 16 years, most of it spent being one of the premier live stops on the international poker scene, PokerStars has opted to discontinue the event, according to reporting from PocketFives.
The relevant sentence comes at the bottom of the linked piece, in a quote from PokerStars Marketing Director Eric Hollreiser.
'It’s no secret that after 15 successful years, the PCA [prior to last year’s PSPC] has been losing momentum and there’s been increasing player criticism of the location,” Hollreiser said. “As such, we will not be returning to Paradise Island in 2020.'
Atlantis Bahamas Poker Tournament 2019
History of the PCA
PCA began as a partnership with the World Poker Tour, taking place on a cruise ship in 2004 and hosting a field of 221 players. Poker legend Gus Hansen would ship the inaugural event, then a $7,500 buy-in, for $455,780.
The next year the PCA moved to its famous home at Atlantis Resort, the sprawling and opulent set-up that occupies almost half of Paradise Island.
Over the years there, the series would eventually evolve into becoming part of PokerStars' European Poker Tour, with the buy-in goosed up to $10,300. It would eventually stand as one of just a few remaining $10K main events on the overall live schedule, although the buy-in was dropped to $5,300 for a couple of years, including the one year the event was rebranded as PokerStars Championship Bahamas in 2017.
The PCA peaked in terms of prizes awarded in 2009, when little-known Canadian Poorya Nazari won a monstrous official first-place of $3 million, although it was widely reported thata deal had been struck at some point before the finish. In terms of entries, the PCA Main Event peaked during the two following years when 1,529 and 1,560 turned up, respectively.
The Main Event was far from the only big draw at PCA. It also hosted some of the first and biggest $100K events in poker before that was just another tournament in the procession of high rollers. The $25K High Roller was also usually one of the most well-attended on the calendar.
Declining Attendance
While the PCA for years could count itself a premier live poker stop, it had fallen on somewhat hard times in recent years.
After attendance peaked in 2011, the lack of online satellites available to North American players contributed to a large attendance drop back to 1,072 in 2012 — about two-thirds of the previous year's total. As the poker environment became tougher and edges shrank, the attractiveness of an expensive stay on an island resort went down as well.
A further drop of about 20 percent — from 1,031 to 816 — in 2015 convinced PokerStars brass to try lowering the buy-in to the aforementioned $5,300. The move did little, as a bump of about 100 entries just meant the prize pool dropped massively, awarding its first winner's prize below seven figures since 2005.
Things only got worse the following year, and 2018's return to $10,300 saw attendance drop in the number of entries to 582, a level not seen since 2005 as well.
The PCA received a major shot in the arm in 2019 when the PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold'em Championship was announced. While the landmark event would run alongside the PCA Main Event, the lure of the most lucrative $25K in history was enough to bring out plenty of grinders and push Main Event attendance back up to 865 for Chino Rheem's victory.
However, that always looked to be temporary fix given that the PSPC was thought to be a one-off and certainly looked unlikely to be repeated every year. With the news that the event will move to Barcelona for 2020, it was confirmed that there would be no similar life raft to keep the 2020 PCA afloat, and PokerStars opted to end the long-running event rather than risk continued decline.
Barring a reboot some time down the road, that means Rheem will go down as the final PCA Main Event champion, closing the books on one of poker's longest-running and most lucrative tournament series.
Tables of PCA Major Event Winners
Main Event
| Year | Buy-In | Entries | Total Prize Pool | Winner | First Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | $7,500 | 221 | $1,657,500 | Gus Hansen | $455,780 |
| 2005 | $8,000 | 461 | $3,487,200 | John Gale | $890,600 |
| 2006 | $8,000 | 724 | $5,647,200 | Steve Paul-Ambrose | $1,388,600 |
| 2007 | $8,000 | 937 | $7,063,842 | Ryan Daut | $1,535,255 |
| 2008 | $8,000 | 1,136 | $8,562,976 | Bertrand Grospellier | $2,000,000 |
| 2009 | $10,000 | 1,347 | $12,674,000 | Poorya Nazari | $3,000,000 |
| 2010 | $10,300 | 1,529 | $14,831,300 | Harrison Gimbel | $2,200,000 |
| 2011 | $10,300 | 1,560 | $15,132,000 | Galen Hall | $2,300,000 |
| 2012 | $10,300 | 1,072 | $10,398,400 | John Dibella | $1,775,000 |
| 2013 | $10,300 | 987 | $9,573,900 | Dimitar Danchev | $1,859,000 |
| 2014 | $10,300 | 1,031 | $10,070,000 | Dominik Panka | $1,423,096 |
| 2015 | $10,300 | 816 | $7,915,200 | Kevin Schulz | $1,491,580 |
| 2016 | $5,300 | 928 | $4,500,800 | Mike Watson | $728,325 |
| 2017 | $5,000 | 738 | $3,376,712 | Christian Harder | $429,664 |
| 2018 | $10,300 | 582 | $5,645,400 | Maria Lampropulos | $1,081,100 |
| 2019 | $10,300 | 865 | $8,390,500 | Chino Rheem | $1,567,100 |
$100K Super High Roller
| Year | Entries | Total Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 38 | $3,743,000 | Eugene Katchalov | $1,500,000 |
| 2012 | 32 | $3,136,000 | Viktor Blom | $1,254,400 |
| 2013 | 55 | $5,724,180 | Scott Seiver | $2,003,480 |
| 2014 | 56 | $5,433,120 | Fabian Quoss | $1,629,940 |
| 2015 | 66 | $6,402,000 | Steve O'Dwyer | $1,872,580 |
| 2016 | 58 | $5,626,000 | Bryn Kenney | $1,687,800 |
| 2017 | 54 | $5,239,080 | Jason Koon | $1,650,300 |
| 2018 | 48 | $4,737,600 | Cary Katz | $1,492,340 |
| 2019 | 61 | $5,918,220 | Sam Greenwood | $1,775,460 |
$25K High Roller
| Year | Entries | Total Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 48 | $1,200,000 | Bertrand Grospellier | $433,500 |
| 2010 | 84 | $2,057,998 | William Reynolds | $576,240 |
| 2011 | 151 | $3,775,500 | Will Molson | $1,072,850 |
| 2012 | 148 | $3,626,000 | Alex Bilokur | $1,134,930 |
| 2013 | 204 | $4,998,000 | Vanessa Selbst | $1,424,420 |
| 2014 | 247 | $6,051,500 | Jake Schindler | $1,192,624 |
| 2015 | 269 | $6,456,000 | Ilkin Garibli | $1,105,040 |
| 2016 | 225 | $5,400,000 | Nick Maimone | $996,480 |
| 2017 | 159 | $3,895,500 | Luc Greenwood | $740,032 |
| 2018 | 142 | $3,484,800 | Chris Kruk | $836,350 |
| 2019 | 162 | $3,928,500 | Martin Zamani | $895,110 |
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PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
Yesterday The Stars Group, the ownershipbehind the monolithic PokerStars in the online poker world, announced some ofthe changes in their 2020 PokerStars Players’ Championship (PSPC) that willcome up next August in Barcelona. Buried in the depths of that interview,PokerStars has announced that, after a 15-year run, that the PokerStarsCaribbean Adventure will not be contested in 2020 and, effectively, is done asa tournament stop.
End of an Era – And of the “Golden Age” ofPoker
Inan interview with Lance Bradley of PocketFives that concentrated on thePSPC, The Stars Group spokesman Eric Hollreiser’s real announcement was buriedat the end. In that story, Hollreiser is quoted as saying “It’s no secret that after 15 successfulyears, the PCA has been losing momentum and there’s been increasing playercriticism of the location,” Hollreiser said. “As such, we will not be returningto Paradise Island in 2020.”
“PokerStarsand our players have had some great success at the Atlantis Resort & Casinoin the Bahamas over a strong 13-year run, and we have very many fond memoriesof ringing in the New Year with our PCA,” Hollreiser continued. “Our research,alongside player feedback, has shown, however, that it is time for a change tokeep things fresh and give our players what they are asking for.”
Thedecision from The Stars Group is stunning in that the PCA has, essentiallysince the inception of PokerStars itself, been THE tournament that the companywas known for. Originally contested aboard a cruise ship in 2004 and a part ofthe World Poker Tour, in 2005 the PCA found its home at the Atlantis Resort onParadise Island in the Bahamas. The January play date for the tournamentprovided the poker world – and we do mean the WORLD – with a way for peoplefrom around the globe to trek to the Bahamas to “get away” from the winterdoldrums for the first major poker tournament to kick off the year.
Over morethan a decade, the PCA gained notoriety for large prize pools and challengingtournaments. In many peoples’ views, it was a part of the “Grand Slam” oftournament poker, consisting of the PCA and the World Series of PokerChampionship Event, the World Poker Tour’s World Championship (now a defuncttournament), the European Poker Tour’s Grand Final (ditto) and the Aussie Millions.The buy in for the tournament would fluctuate over the years, vacillatingbetween a $5000 and a $10,000 buy in for its history.
Atlantis Bahamas Poker Tournament 2018 Leaderboard
While thepoker community loved the PCA, the tournament was affected by the realities ofthe political world. The 2006 passing of the UIGEA, and the decision byPokerStars to continue to serve the U. S. market, saw the PCA become even morepopular. But the 2011 indictment of the founders and executives of PokerStarsand the resulting pullout from the U. S. market had a significant impact on fieldsizes in subsequent years. After peaking at 1560 players in January 2011, the2019 version of the tournament “only” saw 835 entries.
PokerStars’Reasoning?
To be honest, the demise of the PCA has been rumored for years. It actually did end in 2017 as, looking to promote their “PokerStars Championships” circuit (their “replacement” for the EPT), the tournament was rebranded as the “PokerStars Championship Bahamas.” Neither that move, nor the decision to end the EPT (which came back in 2018), was received well by the poker community and the PCA came back in 2018 also.
With thedemise of online poker in the U. S., however, the justifications for The StarsGroup to continue to promote an event in the North American arena weredifficult to find. Even though they were able to return to the New Jersey onlinepoker market in 2016, The Stars Group has never been able to reestablish afoothold in the U. S., making marketing big time tournaments to U. S. customersa waste of time. Even with the potential to expand into Pennsylvania – The StarsGroup is licensed to offer online poker in Pennsylvania but hasn’t opened upshop yet – there’s just not enough reason for The Stars Group to continue withthe PCA.
There’salso the “new kid in town” that is the shiny new toy of The Stars Group and itis something they – not the original owners in Isai Scheinberg and his family –have created. The PSPC, after a stunning debut in 2019 at the PCA, seems to bethe vehicle that The Stars Group wants to ride in the future. With a remarkable1039 players taking part in a $25,000 buy in tournament – the largest $25K tournamentin the history of poker – The Stars Group sees the potential in the newtournament and, with the dwindling numbers of the PCA, needs to cut some weightsomewhere and put the marketing and promotional monies toward the PSPC.
Atlantis Bahamas Poker Tournament 2018 Tournament
The move of the PSPC to the EPT stop in Barcelona in 2020 was perhaps the first “bell toll” for the death of the PCA. The success of the 2019 tournament schedule at the Casino Barcelona made it an easy decision for the execs at The Stars Group. With online gaming still a burgeoning market in Europe, Asia and Africa, it made it an easy choice to leave the Western Hemisphere and go back to the Old Continent.
It is often said that good times never last, but the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure had a helluva run! Perhaps another tournament will be set in the climes of the Atlantis (oddly enough, the only time of the year that poker was offered in the Atlantis’ casino was during the PCA), but it would have to be a major tour such as the World Poker Tour or another circuit looking to make a name. For now, all we will have is the memories of those luxurious January days – and nights – and the warm Caribbean breezes as we bid farewell to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.